VST/AU plug-in instrument/effect round-up: Week 8

Eight new software tools for your consideration

Refreshment for your rack

With so many plug-ins already on the market, you sometimes wonder if there are any new instrument and effect concepts left to be explored, but developers are still coming up with fresh ideas and twists on old ones.

Evidence of this can be found on this week’s round-up, which is full of new sound-making and processing tools.

Sugar Bytes Turnado

PC, Mac/VST, AU £TBC

Following hard on the heels of Waves’ OneKnob series comes this new multi-effect plug-in from Sugar Bytes in which all the effects are tweaked with - you guessed it - one knob. The main focus is said to be on live performance and beat manipulation - Turnado will be sweeping in early this summer.

Two Notes Audio Engineering Torpedo PI-101

PC, Mac/VST, AU, €238

The Torpedo PI-101 is a guitar/bass channel strip that comprises three processing sections. There’s a power amp sim with eight different ‘topologies’; a miking section (more than 30 cabs and eight mics are featured); and a Post-FX section with a low-cut filter, 5-band EQ, exciter and compressor. The price includes an iLok 2.

Empty Room Systems EMpTy 250

PC, Mac/VST, AU, €129

This is an emulation of the EMT-250, the world’s very first digital reverb. Empty Room claims to have identified the ‘specifics’ of the original unit and recreated them in this plug-in, so if you’re looking to capture the EMT-250’s lush sound but don’t have the resources to get your hands on one of the few units that were built, it could be a goer.

Audiffex ampLion Pro

PC, Mac/VST, AU, RTAS, $149

A new guitar gear simulator that contains 30 effects, nine preamps, seven power amps, 12 speakers, eight mics and two speaker channels. The developer claims to have packed all of these into an intuitive interface: it remains to be seen whether it has the tone to challenge the The 11 best VST guitar amp/effect modelling plug-ins in the world today. A free version is also available.

WOK EFU-1

PC/VST, €29

Billed as an echo freeze unit, this is a delay plug-in with a twist. As well as offering standard delay parameters, it also enables you to use the delay buffer as a sampler - it can record audio and then play this back continuously at a selectable speed (or even reversed).

TubeOhm Anti-Transpirant 8000

PC/VST, €29

Given its vintage look, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that Anti-Transpirant 8000 is inspired by analogue hardware keyboards of yore. That said, this 8x oversampling instrument promises to have its own character. If you’re an existing TubeOhm customer, you can have a mono version for free.

Sinevibes Sequential

Mac/AU, $49

Designed for creating rhythmical effect patterns, Sequential offers filters, waveshapers, distortion, ring modulation and audio-controlled oscillators. These can be driven by the 32-step sequencer that has variable speed and swing settings, so if your current FX processing feels a bit static, give it a whirl.